Villa were hammered 6-0 by Liverpool yesterday, and the side showed a lack of battle and commitment throughout the fixture.

The Claret and Blues collapsed after Liverpool scored their third goal, and Garde admits that his players did not battle hard enough.

"I have a lot of feelings but I will keep some for myself. The first 15 minutes we were not too bad but we gave them the first goal. We have 12 games to go, there's still the possibility to win these games and we have to fight for it," he said.

"I will find 11 or 18 players who still have the desire to win those games."

Given that Villa had improved of late, their humiliation defeat against Liverpool was a slight shock.

Garde’s men went into the match against the Reds on the back of a victory over Norwich City, but they looked bereft of confidence throughout.

Villa are now eight points adrift of safety, and only a remarkable turnaround will see them avoid the drop.

The Midlands club’s next match comes against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium in two weekends’ time, and if they are to pick up any points from the Potteries their performance will have to be much improved.

John Verrall

John is a sports journalism graduate from Staffordshire University. He is a huge football fan and a minute-by-minute writer for UEFA.com, as well as being a freelance writer for Sports New Media. John has also seen his work been published by the likes of The Guardian, World Soccer and Shoot Magazine over the course of his bourgeoning journalism career so far. He has a particular expertise in all things to do with the Football League – and is a passionate Peterborough United fan.